Editorial: In East Ramapo, a (small) step forward

More than 100 packed the July 7 East Ramapo school board meeting. The board hired a new law firm, and Yehuda Weissmandl was renamed school board president.(Photo: Nancy Cutler/The Journal News)Buy Photo

Nearly two years after the most embarrassing incident in a string of bad behavior by East Ramapo school district's controversial high-priced law firm, the school board finally fulfilled its promise to hire new attorneys.

It is at least one good decision in the derelict district. Legislation to bring a much-needed state monitor to the troubled district fizzled; protests continue over the school superintendent's callous remarks about young immigrant students; recently released stinging reports by the state Education Department document the district's myriad and continued failures in educating its children.

The August 2013 lawyer skirmish went viral, for the world to see the disdain met by public-school parents, as a lawyer paid to represent the school board screamed obscenities during a parking lot confrontation. The incident came on the heels of other distasteful moments of Minerva & D'Agostino's principal, Albert D'Agostino, sneering and cursing at parents, alumni and even students of the district. (On Tuesday, D'Agostino, insisted he jumped, and was not pushed, out of the district.)

The parking lot skirmish was the most outlandish, but hardly the only example of the growing tension between the families of public-school children and a school board dominated by members of the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community who use private yeshivas. Many had long asserted, and a state-appointed fiscal monitor confirmed, that the school board's decisions on how to use the district's limited resources favor the private-school community.

Two years was a long time to wait. But this is but one (small) sign that the school board may be starting to figure out it must function like any other board of education.

The school board, at its annual reorganization meeting on Tuesday night, hired Harris-Beach, a law firm that represents more than 100 school districts, among many other clients. The law firm will charge $200 an hour, and travel costs will be calculated from the firm's White Plains office, East Ramapo School Board President Yehuda Weissmandl told an overflow crowd at the meeting.

The original hiring of Minerva & D'Agostino in 2009 caused outrage. The firm charged $250 an hour (double what the district's longtime local firm had billed) and $125 an hour for travel to and from Long Island. At the time, one deputy district official called the move by the board's Orthodox majority a "declaration of war"; a school board member from the public school contingent said the board had "betrayed the public trust."

Other changes are occurring. Weissmandl, in a recent meeting with The Journal News, pointed out that the board now lets people know ahead of time if there is a planned executive session. While that's new to East Ramapo's board, it's pro forma for most municipal and school boards. Plus, the board has moved public comment back to the beginning of meetings, instead of at the end, when most people have left. That, too, is a positive for the district, although it is a standard practice for other government entities.

Much more, though, needs to be done.

More change, now

For one, calls to remove Superintendent Joel Klein – by protesters at each meeting, and by New York State Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch – must be heeded. Klein last year blamed older immigrant students coming to the district for damaging the district's graduation rates. "They want to learn the language. They want free lunch, breakfast, and whatever else they can get. They know they cannot get a diploma," Klein said during an August 2014 meeting. Protests have been held ever since, at just about every school board meeting, including Tuesday's. Klein has said his words were distorted and taken out of context. In a district where most students are children of color, where many are immigrants, where dozens of languages are spoken, such misunderstanding and stereotyping cannot stand. Klein must go.

That said, any superintendent would still be charged with fulfilling the board's mission. Klein has drawn ire because he has engaged while the board has often remained unresponsive. A new superintendent will need a better board behind him or her, or the same results will occur.

And the district must finally acquiesce on its fight with the state over special education placements. The board argues that giving ultra-Orthodox parents the kind of placement they believe fits their children's needs – in Yiddish-speaking, gender-segregated yeshivas — ultimately costs the district less than fighting parents in court over the placements. But that violates special education law, according to the state, bolstered by a recent court ruling. The district has yet to say if it would challenge the ruling. It should not. The district, like every other New York school system, should adhere to federal and state law when making determinations about the education and placement of special education students, no matter what community they come from.

While the school board demonstrates efforts to reverse its dysfunction, all eyes must remain laser focused. And that's the way it should be. The students cannot wait for the board to figure out how to manage and maintain a quality education. In January, when the state Legislature returns, Assembly and Senate members should consider whether a monitor bill needs to be revived.